Li Xia looked at the official letter in his hand and frowned.
It has been more than three months since I became the commander-in-chief of Shu, and I still can't understand the documents of the imperial court.
"What is this word?" He had to ask Han Qi'an for advice.
"Ke. Here, it may mean to withhold, or it may also refer to the amount of two buckets."
Li Xia only asked this one word, then looked at the entire paragraph and thought for a long time alone.
"One stone per meter in the autumn harvest is increased to 80 guans at the price of Sichuan. It is also more than 800 guans in the Eighteenth Realm, which is only 160 fens in copper coins. This money will be enough for the households to pay the current price. 11. What's more, it is too limited to be collected by the officials, and everyone is talking about it, but it is in vain. How can the people of Shu not have any complaints? It is better to push it up and promote it, so as to keep the people far away in the spring."
Han Qi'an was also busy, sitting there and flipping the abacus, and finally asked: "Alang, do you need an explanation?"
Li Xia said: "Is this talking about He Bian?"
"Yes, the word 'bian' is exactly the word 'in rice'. To put it simply, the court is just buying food from the people." Han Qian said: "But in the past few years, Sichuan and Sichuan have been suffering from wars and wars, and the people have long been without food. , and the court’s money keeps depreciating. The money used to be worth one thousand yuan, but now, I’m afraid it can’t be exchanged for one hundred yuan.”
Li Xia said: "What it says here is that eight hundred copper coins are exchanged for one hundred and sixty copper coins."
"The imperial court has a lot of money, so it says, '11 of the current price' is paid. Coupled with the deduction, the so-called purchase of grain is no different from robbing private grain."
Li Xia said: "This is my reply to the imperial court for military merit."
"It seems that the answer is wrong?"
Li Xia nodded and said: "It seems that the answer is not what the question was asked, but if you think about it carefully, it contains many meanings."
"Alang, please tell me, I will fill in the gaps for Alang."
The two were discussing, and it was also the process of Li Xia learning to be an official.
"The imperial court is crying for poverty." Li Xia said slowly: "It means that after the war has been going on for so many years, the imperial court has used money to support Shu to buy grain, which has caused the entire... monetary system to collapse, and even the government's credit for purchasing grain from the private sector has collapsed. There is nothing left, and we can no longer send money to lead it to Sichuan and Shu."
Han Qi'an's eyes were filled with surprise.
Li Xia is still very immature when it comes to reviewing these official letters, and he can't even recognize all the words.
But you must know that he has only been in charge for more than three months, and most of the time he has to worry about other things.
His talent is extremely amazing, not for understanding articles, but for his subtle knowledge of the political situation...
"What Alang said is absolutely true. Once the war stops, the imperial court will never dare to send any more money to lure people to Sichuan and Shu."
"But what I want is real gold, silver and copper coins." Li Xia said.
Han Qi'an smiled bitterly, clicked on the official letter, and sighed: "Doesn't the imperial court mean that there is no real money? It is true that there is no more."
Li Xia said: "In another sense, the imperial court does not want me to 'purchase' grain from the people anymore, for fear of arousing public resentment."
"No, fear of provoking a civil uprising is just one of them. Why buy grain? To support the army." Han Qi'an said: "The imperial court does not want Alang to raise troops anymore. However, it may not be because of suspicion, it is more likely to be... really I can’t afford it anymore.”
Li Xia said: "Aren't you afraid of being called again?"
"If you are not a family, you don't know how valuable rice is." Han Qi'an said: "I have calculated the wealth of the Song Dynasty, and it is really amazing. During the more than twenty years of war, they could not make ends meet every year, but they managed to survive. The court was full of people who managed money. Holy hands."
"It's nothing amazing." Li Xia said, "It's nothing more than robbing the people with 'harmony'."
"Yes, but there's nothing we can do about it."
"I know that there is no way to fight a war." Li Xia said: "Dante Daquan, Lu Wende and others are also greedy."
This short official letter revealed the long-standing shortcomings of the Song Dynasty for more than 20 years... I don't know if Li Xia made progress or if the long-standing shortcomings were too obvious.
When Lu Wende was mentioned, Han Qi'an sighed again.
Yesterday, the Lu family's caravan had arrived. There were more than twenty ships, with great momentum, crossing the river and heading straight into Hanzhong City.
Unfortunately, the boat was completely empty.
The reason why it arrived so quickly was because as soon as the Lu family received Li Xia's letter, they couldn't wait to transport the empty boxes.
He also took a thick account book and asked Li Xia to write an IOU.
His domineering attitude and arrogance... made Liu Jinsuo so angry that he wanted to take out his gun and kill the entire Lu family caravan.
However, Li Xia actually wrote an IOU of 350,000 yuan to the Lu family caravan in the name of the commander's purchase, and sealed it with a painting.
"Alang, since we are talking about Lu Wende." Han Qi'an couldn't help but said: "I know that Alang must have a plan, but after thinking about it all night, I still can't figure out why he suffered such a big loss. Could it be that he left Tian Da as soon as he took office?
deficit?"
"Lu Wende and I are even brothers. Brothers don't care about this little money."
"Please don't show off, Alang. I'm really...very curious." Han Qi'an had no choice but to hand over his hand.
Li Xia asked: "How much can Mr. Han think of?"
"The caravan did not fly under the banner of the Lu family, but Fan Yipeng is so arrogant that many people may have recognized him as the cousin of Fan Wenhu, Lu Wende's son-in-law."
"good."
"The ship seems to be fully loaded with cargo, but the draft is extremely shallow and the trackers are walking like flying. Anyone who is interested will definitely be able to tell that it is an empty ship. This matter will definitely not withstand investigation."
"good."
Han Qi'an pondered again: "I made this purchase on credit in the name of the Marshal's Mansion, and I couldn't hide it... No matter how you look at it, Alang did it on purpose."
"It was intentional."
"But colluding with a general to be corrupt is a too big crime. Self-deprecation is not this kind of self-deception. Once word gets out, Alang's position as commander-in-chief will not be guaranteed."
"Before, at Dashanguan, Liu Yuanzhen..."
Li Xia had just reached this point when an announcement came from far away.
So he shouted first: "Summon."
"Report to the commander-in-chief that Wei Zan Wanshou of Chenggu County has escorted 347 households of refugees, a total of 1,215 people, to the outside of the city to see the commander-in-chief."
When Han Qi'an heard this, he smiled and said, "This Chenggu County Lieutenant is a capable person. He can clearly state the number of people when reporting."
"Not only is he capable, he is also a good general."
Li Xia responded casually and told the clerk who reported the news: "No need to reply, I'm going out of the city."
"yes……"
Li Xia got up, first looked through the official letter on the case, and found three private letters from Ding Daquan underneath.
This was delivered together with the shop.
As for setting up shop and delivering letters, if there is no urgent matter, Lin'an will usually deliver them every ten days.
In other words, Ding Daquan wrote three letters in ten days.
Li Xia knew what was written without reading it. He asked him to recommend Ding Dang as an official, asked him why he didn't reply, and scolded him.
Continuing to flip through, he found two letters from Wu Qian... Although they were not signed, Li Xia knew they were written by Wu Qian's people.
He kept the two letters in his arms calmly.
"Please ask Mr. Yi Ning to help you deal with these first." Gu Gan
"Yes." Han Qi'an stood up and held his hands.
Watching Li Xia leave the office, he was also a little confused.
I have seen Alang take away letters from Lin'an more than once... What is it that I can't tell my confidant, a woman?
Han Qian then shook his head and smiled, secretly saying that Alang still had Qiaoer in his heart.
~~
Outside Hanzhong City.
Hao Erfu took Hao Gou'er and stood among a group of refugees. Looking up, he felt that this place was not as prosperous as his hometown and there were fewer people.
The fields are also a bit uncultivated, but if the canals are well repaired and a little effort is put into planting, the harvest will not be worse than the original fields.
But it’s already July, so I can only plow the ground and plant some winter wheat to survive this year...
Turning his eyes, he saw a young Song official in plain clothes sitting on the wall of the ruined temple in front of him. He didn't look too pretentious. He plucked up the courage and approached him.
"Official...official..." Hao Erfu didn't know what official the other party was. He thought he was young and must be a minor official.
"Hey, this little kid is so thin and his eyes are really bright."
Zan Wanshou glanced at Hao Gou'er first, blinked, then turned to Hao Erfu and said in a deep voice: "What's the matter?"
"I heard from officials that the land is rented for one stone, but... are there other taxes?"
"There are three months of corvée service during the off-season, and there is nothing else." Zan Wanshou said: "This year is already halfway through, so after the harvest, I pay a fixed quota of five dou. One stone for next year. Remember, don't say 'last year's five dou' again, otherwise I will slap you."
"Yes, yes, I don't dare."
Hao Erfu was satisfied with this. He was a good hand at farm work, and he was quite confident that he could grow more than three stones of grain per acre of land in a year.
If you rent a few more acres, the harder you work, the more harvest you will get.
Unlike those in Guanzhong, where crops are harvested according to yield, the more you plant, the more you receive.
"Then let's ask the officials...if we encounter a bad year..."
Zan Wanshou said: "Once you have registered as a household registration, your land rent will not be collected in the famine years. Maybe there will be relief."
Thank you very much, Hao Erfu.
He counted on his fingers for a while, but felt uneasy and asked again: "There is a lot of official ration...how much does it cost?"
Zan Wanshou thought about the contents of the document and said: "According to the market price, after the harvest, official grain is not forced to be purchased, but can only be bought and sold voluntarily according to the market price."
At this time, many refugees had gathered around Hao Erfu, talking and asking many questions.
Zan Wanshou then stood up and said loudly: "I will say it again, the government has a green crop loan, let you buy seeds, farm tools, and build houses, and you will get 20% interest, no compounding of interest, no forced loans... If any official violates this,
For example, you can go to the commander's house and beat the drum to complain.
Those who don't want to borrow money can also work in the workshops there and get paid monthly, which is also a way to survive... In short, those who are willing to work hard will only get better and better in Hanzhong. I believe that you can make it to Hanzhong.
Not a slob."
"My lord, can you, a humble man, farm again and go to that workshop?"
"I don't care about you. As long as your body can handle it, the workshop won't mind you being a troublesome person... Where can I live? The land for the house is zoned and I don't charge any money, but I am not allowed to build a house privately."
"..."
Hao Erfu had rubbed his hands and calculated, and felt that he could live a good life here.
Of course, the feeling of wandering in my heart will not go away for a long time...
~~
As Zan Wanshou was talking, he turned around and suddenly saw a group of people standing not far away, looking over here.
He was startled and rushed to meet him.
"I've met Li Shuai."
Li Xia did not wear official uniform, nor did he reveal his identity to the refugees ahead.
He ordered Lu Xiufu and other officials behind him: "You guys take the people to resettle them first."
"yes……"
Li Xia then looked at Zan Wanshou and said, "Chenggu County has done a good job in public security. I heard that you arrested a big thief."
Zan Wanshou secretly clicked his tongue.
This was something he did just five days ago. He still had the official document with him and had not yet submitted it, but Li Shuai actually knew about it.
He hurriedly kept up with Li Xia and said: "Li Shuai, there is something..."
Li Xia stopped and said, "Tell me."
Zan Wanshou watched the officials in front of him walking away without going around the bush, and said directly: "When Wuzhi County was at Dashan Pass, he picked up an arrow letter. What was written in the letter was actually a plan to alienate the Mongolian Tatars, but Wuzhi County
…”
"Wu Qiwei thinks that I came to Dashan Pass to surrender and sell you all?"
"This matter is absolutely unbelievable, but Wuzhi County is actually the center of the DPRK..."
Li Xia raised his hand, stopped what Zan Wanshou was about to say, and said: "Do what you should do, and don't bring the party dispute between North Korea and China to Sichuan and Shu."
Zan Wanshou couldn't guess Li Xia's thoughts for a moment, so he quickly responded with cupped fists.
He does not think that he is fighting in the party, and he does not have a backer yet.
However, today I have at least expressed my attitude, and that is enough...
~~
Li Xia had already looked at the refugees passing by, sensing the turmoil in Guanzhong from them.
He came here to observe with his own eyes the abilities of these officials in Hanzhong, and to ensure that this first batch of people from Guanzhong could be properly resettled.
This is very important. Only when this group of refugees live well can they attract subsequent populations.
In a difficult situation, at least these things are still moving forward and never stop.
As for the little thing Zan Wanshou just mentioned... even Wu Qiwei could pick up the arrow letter, how could Li Xia not know about it?
Li Xia also knew that it was not just Liu Yuanzhen who was causing discord, there were more people who despised him sitting in the position of Shu Commander.
Ding Daquan received no benefit and became furious. Three letters came in ten days.
However, the imperial court refused to send money and food, and wanted Sichuan and Shu to reduce their troops and rest with the people. This was obviously Wu Qian's idea, and Li Xia had different political views with him.
Lu Wende refused to send a caravan to transport supplies, which also shows Jia Sidao's attitude.
The strange thing is that to this day, Jia Sidao has never received a letter.
…
Internal and external troubles.
But Li Xia believed that this was what he should bear. After Mongolia went south, every Shu commander, Yu Jie, Pu Zezhi, and even Yu Hui, who was relaxed?
He is still very weak, but fortunately, he never lacks the courage to face difficulties...